I Had Opinions/That Didn't Matter

Virgin Festival: Toronto

2006-12-10T01:47:00.000-08:00

This was only my second festival experience, the first being SarsStock at Downsview Park in '03. All in all it was a pretty good time. Some ups, some downs, but good music all around.

Saturday: Buck 65, Muse, Gnarls Barkley, The Flaming Lips

Today was scout day. It's important to get a good sense of the distances between the stages and locations of food, merch and other 'facilities'. We got out there surprisingly quickly (they had 2 ferries running) and were pumped for some music. The bands were running a bit behind schedule, such is the plight of a brand new festival, but we didn't think it'd be too much of a problem...how wrong we were.

Buck 65 was the surpise highlight of the day. It's just himself, his turntables and a mic on stage, but he definitely makes the most of it. A large mid-afternoon crowd gathered as he confidently worked his way through the best of his back catalog, 'Secret House Against the World' material and a great song from the upcoming album 'Strong Arm' called "Spread 'em".

While a large part of the crowd waited for The Flaming Lips to take the stage, Aussie rockers Muse played a massively long set. I've never been a huge fan, but they put on a very respectable, not to mention stylish, show full of squealing guitar riffs and impressive showmanship.

Gnarls Barkley was an act I was looking forward too all day, and they didn't disappoint. Taking the stage dressed as ninjas they played most of the tracks from the debut St. Elsewhere. The highlight, however, was a cover of a song called "There Is An End" which was originally a Greenhornes track featuring the vocals of Holly Golightly. This was undoubtedly in response to the recently addition of a "Crazy" cover to The Raconteurs' setlist.

Finally, after 10 hours of anticipation, The Flaming Lips took the stage... some 50 minutes after they were scheduled. "Who cares?", I thought, "it's a freakin' island...they can play as late as they want". All my worries vanished as Wayne climbed inside his big plastic bubble which was then inflated, sealed and rolled in the crowd. He rolled right over top of me!

By the time he got back on stage, the crowd was in a frenzied state and the Lips wasted no time, busting right into their traditional opener, "Race For The Prize". Holy shit was it ever awesome. Confetti canons shot their colorful loads 80 feet into the crowd and 3 foot balloons flooded the field. There's no party like a Flaming Lips party.

They managed to get through a few more tracks before the unthinkable happened. At 11pm sharp, fearing a fine, the promoters shut the show down. The Lips, promised a 90 minute set, got 25 of them. The boos echoed throughout Toronto Island and various items were hurled at the stage. Wayne and the band apologized profusely, but it wasn't their fault. My blood boiled as I stomped toward the ferry. Sunday had better be damn good.

Sunday: Born Ruffians, Wolfmother, The Strokes, The Raconteurs

Still tweaked from the crime against music that I witnessed the night before, I sat on the ferry with guarded expectations for Day 2. The schedule promised some solid acts, but my rage against Virgin and the festival promoters continued. I even asked a Virgin rep if any compensation was being considered for the fuck-up. "Probably," she said "we're all about the people." It was tough to keep from laughing out loud.

First up were the always great Born Ruffians who--from my hometown--had recently signed to, not one, but two (2!) labels--XL Recordings in the UK and Warp Records in North America. It was clear that the large stage was a new thing for them, but they laid down a solid set of tracks from their at-the-time-unreleased self-titled EP. An impressive early-afternoon crowd had gathered by the end of their set to check out the very appealing sounds filling their side of the island.

After a few hours of wandering around--and checking out the free carnival rides, Wolfmother hit the main stage. Drawing on much experience from the land down under, they definitely know how to rock a festival crowd. This is the first time I'd seen the band since their rise to superstardom with the international smash hit, "Woman", which they played for the eager and enthusiastic audience. I was impressed at how well their act translated to the huge venue.

The Strokes really, really impressed me. I wasn't expecting much--and Julian and the boys were pretty late coming on stage--but man did they ever rock. They completely embody the 'rock band' cliches on stage. The charasmatic rock star front and centre, the long-haired silhouttes of the guitar and rhythm sections in the background, they had stage presence unlike any band I've seen. Strokes fans were found in bunches throughout the crowd and enjoyed tracks from all 3 albums, including my 2 favorites, "Reptilia" and "Someday".

Unable to stay for Broken Social Scene, The Raconteurs were my Virgin Festival finale. After the Lips, I was looking forward to seeing Jack and boys the most. Their first--and as of yet only--Toronto show was embraced wholeheartedly by the patient and no doubt exhausted crowd. I managed to get very close to the stage for this one. With barely enough room to breathe, the crowd kicked and thrashed through a set including the rockin' highlights, "Store Bought Bones", "Stead, As She Goes" and "Blue Veins". I left the grounds Sunday night infinitely more satisfied than I was 24 hours earlier.

All in all it was a decent first attempt for the festival in Toronto. I hope next year they can attract equally big names and keep things running a bit more smoothly. I'm still waiting on the free Lips makeup show...

Raconteurs Rock Detr...er, Ann Arbor!

2006-12-09T03:02:00.000-08:00

What a day this was. A 6 hour drive turned into 8 because of the crazy border. We nearly ran out of gas, I had the best meal of my life, bought some lingerie, ate awesome Doritos, got screwed over by the Duty Free shop and almost died at the hands of some Detroit gangstas.

The show was quite the spectacle too. The hometown boys had family in the audience, I saw Ben Blackwell (of the Dirtbombs, Jack's cousin) before the show, and there were even reports of Iggy Pop sightings. Sweet.

The gorgeous venue was seated, not the best choice for a Jack-led rocking affair, but I understand the appeal. Jack, Brendan and the boys powered through a 12 song set which included everything from the debut album (sans "Call It A Day") as well as a few covers; Nancy Sinatra's "Bang Bang" and Ron Davies' "It Ain't Easy" spring to mind.

The sound was less than spectacular, from where I was sitting anyways. Ear splitting guitar riffs and the occasional jab of feedback overpowered the vocals and dulled some of the most potentially rockin' moments. But it was impossible not to feed off of the fun they were having on stage.

Jack White as a performer is completely mesmerizing. I probably spent about 80% of the time watching him. He just demands your attention. Though "Little" Jack Lawrence is fun to watch too, he's in his own little world behind the hair and glasses, just be-boppin' away.

The show was good. Not near as good as the Virgin Festival show that I'll post about next, but good. Oh, the meal was the baby back ribs from Chili's, in case you were wondering.

Tapes 'n Tapes 'n Futureheads

2006-12-09T02:19:00.000-08:00

I'm back!

The new year will be bringing a crapload of writing. The Emancipator, Imprint, screenplays...it should great. So I figured I should get the creative juices flowing once more with an epic revival of nobody's favorite blog, I Had Opinions/That Didn't Matter.

I'm gonna start things off by trying to catch up on the concerts I never got around to reviewing. The first of which was the Futureheads/Tapes 'n Tapes show at the Phoenix in Toronto back on July 26th.

I arrived at this show with a couple extra tickets. I was hoping to dump them off onto some ticketless fans, but nobody was buying. There weren't even any scalpers around. So I ate $40...oh well.

The show was pretty solid. Tapes 'n Tapes held down the opening slot as solidly as anyone could. The venue was still a little bigger than their developing confidence was up to but it turned out to be a much needed counterbalance to the overwhelming swagger of the headlining Futureheads. Tapes' catchier tracks like "Insistor" and "Cowbell" really got the crowd into it and their set was just the right length to showcase their appeal but not overstay their welcome. I look forward to seeing them in a couple years when they've matured and developed a more captivating stage presence.

The Futureheads are a band that I've never been able to get into. I understand why people are into them...it's just never appealed to me. The crowd really seemed to enjoy the set, I'm glad they had fun.

And that's that.

Ohhhh Baby

2006-07-08T19:28:00.000-07:00

It's funny how one song can really make your day sometimes.

Today, for example, was a pretty boring day. I was trying to get some new music, with not much luck, when I stumbled across something I've been waiting about 8 months for; new music from The Black Keys.

The song is "Give Your Heart Away" (available below for download) from the upcoming Nonesuch release--Magic Potion--and the riff is infectious. Check. It. Out. Now.

Download: [The Black Keys - Give Your Heart Away]

Music News You May Have Missed

2006-07-08T08:25:00.000-07:00

And now, some swell and not as swell updates from the world of music.

Swell: Virgin Festival rocks Canada.

It's official, crazy old Richard Branson will be bringing a kick ass festival weekend to Toronto Island. It all goes down September 9th & 10th with over 40 bands promised to show. Confirmed acts include:

The Flaming Lips
The Raconteurs
Gnarls Barkley
Massive Attack
Eagles Of Death Metal
Wolfmother
Buck 65
Phoenix
Sam Roberts
We Are Wolves
Zero 7
Alexisonfire
Thrice

More to come!

Tickets are available to the general public starting this morning on Ticketmaster. Get em while they're hot.

1-day pass: ~$60
2-day pass: ~$110

Link: [www.vfestival.ca]

Not As Swell: Sleater-Kinney calls it quits.

With the following statement, rock institution Sleater-Kinney is saying goodbye after years of exemplary rock 'n roll servitude.

"After eleven years as a band, Sleater-Kinney have decided to go on indefinite hiatus.

The upcoming summer shows will be our last. As of now, there are no plans for future tours or recordings. We feel lucky to have had the support of many wonderful people over the years. We want to thank everyone who has worked with us, written kind words about us, performed with us, and inspired us.

But mostly we want to extend our gratitude to our amazing fans. You have been a part of our story from the beginning. We could not have made our music without your enthusiasm, passion, and loyalty. It is you who have made the entire journey worthwhile."

For a couple days it looked as if their final show would be at Lollapalooza this August, but they have since added a date in their hometown of Portland, Oregon on August 11th.

Farewell girls, you will be missed.

Download: [Sleater-Kinney - What's Mine Is Yours]

Ok...so that's all for now. At least it's something.

That's Half-tacular!

2006-07-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

The first half of 2006 is behind us, leaving in its wake some excellent releases deserving recogition that I'll probably forget to bestow at the end of the year.

So without further jibber-jabber, I present the 2006 Opinions Half-Tacular.

THE ALBUMS (purchasable!):

10. Danielson - Ships
9. Built To Spill - You In Reverse
8. The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soliders
7. Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time
6. Gnarls Barkely - St. Elsewhere
5. Candy Bars - On Cutting Ti-Gers In Half And Understanding Narravations
4. Man Man - Six Demon Bag
3. The Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics
2. Islands - Return To The Sea

1. Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies

THE TRACKS (downloadable!):

10. The Raconteurs - Intimate Secretary
9. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Death Of A Martian
8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold Lion
7. Gnarls Barkley - Gone Daddy Gone
6. Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
5. Cold War Kids - We Used To Vacation
4. Man Man - Engwish Bwudd
3. Destroyer - Your Blood
2. Islands - Volcanoes

1. Sufjan Stevens - Opie's Funeral Song

They Formed A Band, You Help Them Out

2006-06-24T15:08:00.000-07:00

Art Brut is pretty cool. I like the album a lot, I've heard nothing but great things about their live show. I think you'd like them too.

But they need your help.

As you may have heard, BBC has recently cancelled Top Of The Pops after 42 long years of live music presentation. A large tragedy in itself...the magnitude of the loss is amplified by the fact that Art Brut may never be able to fulfill their lifelong dream!

They have a song called "Art Brut TOTP", with lyrics proclaiming their mission, "Art Brut, Top of the Pops. ART BRUT TOP OF THE POPS! [OPENING BAND] TOP OF THE POPS! ART BRUT TOP OF THE POPS."

So be a good samaritan and help get Art Brut on the show before it's final episode airs on July 3oth. Sign the Art Brut TOTP petition here.

NOW!

What. A. Show.

2006-06-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

Ok...so it's been a while. Work sucks the life out of me. I have no energy left for blogging.

But today I'm tapping into the reserves to give my loyal and probably non-existant readership a review of a concert I attended about 2 weeks ago. Here goes nothin'.

Going into the Man Man show, I had fairly high expectations. Every article ever written about them contains some reference to their apparently unrivaled, kick-ass live show. I'm glad to say that I'll be upholding that reputation.

The Silver Dollar Room in Toronto is renowned for its Blues scene and turned out to be a great venue for this type of show. The stage was tiny, there's no 'backstage' to speak of and the acoustics are surprisingly good.

The opening band was called A Ghost Is Dancing--or some such ridiculous name. Their mess of a stage setup included 7 (or 8?) members and produced some decently entertaining sounds. No member looked a day over 18, their antics didn't help in that regard either.

It's funny how some bands just act crazy while others actually convince you that they are crazy. This is what Man Man excels at. From soaring start to fantastic finish they take the audience for a wild ride through kazoo interludes, double-sax intros, precisely timed energy bursts and mind meltingly chaotic choruses.

If that sounds like a good time to you, trust me, you're right.

Set highlights include "Engwish Bwudd", "Spider Cider" and the closer, "Ice Dogs".

And here's a video of the performance!!

Key Details

2006-05-31T13:37:00.000-07:00

Last post of May, suckers.

Pitchfork put out a detailed article today regarding The Black Keys' switch to Nonesuch and the forthcoming label debut--Magic Potion.

Included was the tracklist of the new album:
01 Just Got to Be
02 Your Touch
03 You're the One
04 Just a Little Heat
05 Give Your Heart Away
06 Strange Desire
07 Modern Times
08 The Flame
09 Goodbye Babylon
10 Black Door
11 Elevator

I can't wait. According to Pat the new release is 'heavier' than previous efforts, a good sign I think. He also reveals the reason for the label switcheroo, they just wanted a label with better distribution that won't try to mess with their sound.

In the words of Carney, a label that wants "to sell records... but they're not in it to sell records."

Sounds good to me.

One final bit of news, a fall tour is imminent. So make sure to check that out.

Read the entire article here.

Things That Piss Me Off

2006-05-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

What pisses me off? Lots of stuff. Here's an example.

When emo albums get good reviews. I don't know, maybe it's a masterpiece. But I'm way to much of an indie elitist to check it out.

New New New

2006-05-25T15:41:00.000-07:00

The Black Keys have a new label and a new LP on the way--Magic Potion--due out September 12th.

They recently left their long-time lable Fat Possum Records (for reason which I'm not privy to) and have now signed with Nonesuch Records--home of Wilco, The Magnetic Fields, k.d. Lang and Brian Wilson among others.

Paired with a opening slot on the super-hyped Radiohead tour this year and a song featured in a Nissan ad, this seems to be the beginning of big, big things for Pat and Dan.

I guess we'll see.

I Had 100 Posts/That Didn't Matter

2006-05-22T17:03:00.000-07:00

Holy cow. 100 posts.

It's times like this when I ask myself:

In the spirit of this joyous occasion, I'm proud to introduce a new feature here at Opinions, the "Why I Don't Care" column--published approximately whenever I feel like it.

Let the cynicism begin.

Why I Don't Care: #01

I don't care because it's not worth my time. When you care, you automatically have to start worrying about things. That eats up more of my time that I can use for whatever.

Let me illustrate with an example.

A duck is crossing the street. If you see that duck and care about it, you have to worry about whether or not an 18-wheeler will come along and turn it into a skid mark. On the other hand, if you don't care, the life and death of the duck cease to have any influence on your life. It's as if the duck doesn't even exist.

Now surely you must be wondering what sort of impact this has on the nature of your perception of reality. Funny you should ask, because I don't care.

Review - The Da Vinci Code

2006-05-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

I was pretty pumped about this movie until the negative reviews started pouring out of the Cannes Film Festival last week. So I entered the theatre and sat down with limited expectations--a good thing since the film couldn't even surpass those.

While remaining very true to the novel, Ron Howard and his team managed to suck all the fun out of it. Leaving an overdramatic and ghoulish atmosphere for the actors to flounder around in--Hanks' performance was especially uninspired.

Of course it wasn't entirely his fault. For the first 20 minutes of the film his lines consisted of variations on the phrase, "I can't believe it!" or "This can't be happening!". Somehow the novel actually comes off as more fast paced than the movie. Strange.

The only real highlight was Sir Ian McKellan's portrayal of double-crossing Grail enthusiast Leah Teabing. He managed to enthusiastically inject some wit and comic flare into the otherwise stale adaptation.

Except for a couple of creatively directed scenes, the direction was nothing to rave about either. More or less by the book, with a few shots that actually grabbed my attention and made me think, "why did I need to see that?".

And there you have it, the most anticipated and hotly debated film of the year. Next.

6.1/10

'Sunday Of A Long Weekend' Mix

2006-05-21T16:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't really been keeping my blog up to date lately. Sorry about that. As a member of my loyal readership you deserve better.

In an attempt to regain your respect and admiration, I present you with a shower of awesome music.

Fantomas - 04/03/05 Sunday
Islands - Volcanoes
The Unicorns - I Was Born (A Unicorn)
Sufjan Stevens - Springfield, Or Bobby Caught A Shadfly In His Hair
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Death Of A Martian
Destroyer - Painter In Your Pocket
The DFA - Deceptacon (Le Tigre)
Gnarls Barkley - Gone Daddy Gone

Enjoy.

1 Outta 3 Ain't Bad

2006-05-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

First of all, let me say that I'm pissed. Since when do venues keep the entire ticket?! They've single-handedly ruined my ticket collection. Friggin' bastards.

Moving on, I'd like to express further disappointment over the fact that Sunset Rubdown and Frog Eyes cancelled a few hours before the show (something about molotov cocktails?). So the openers instead were hip hop artists Bus Driver and Edmonton's Cadence Weapon.

They were ok. Cadence's beats were way more fun and varied. And that's all I have to say about that.

A couple hours--and 5 beers--after the rhymes began, Islands took the stage in all their 7-member glory. Guitar, bass, sax, violin (2x), keyboard, drums--these are the ingredients of a great indie rock show.

With the crowd shouting Unicorns references left and right ("I was born a unicorn!"), the band powered confidently through a well-paced set. My favorite track--"Volcanoes"--came early in the show and I settled in for a good time.

A major highlight came during the song "Where There's A Will There's A Whalebone" when the band was joined by Bus Driver and Cadence Weapon for help with the hip hop-rock crossover verses. Good times. "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby" and "Rough Gem" were also fan favourites for a good reason--they rocked.

Towards the end of the show I was getting pretty tired. I haven't been sleeping much lately. So the big finale didn't have quite the impact that it should've. A few fake endings later the concert was over and I began to regain feeling in my lower appendages.

A quick stop at the merch table was in order, I picked up a t-shirt and the Islands' latest release--Return To The Sea--on double white vinyl. Overall it was a really, really good time. But as great as it was I couldn't help but wonder, who will cut our hair when we're gone?

Too Hot For One Date To Handle

2006-05-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

So I was trying to get tickets for the Chili Peppers show yesterday morning...I was on right at 10am but got the shaft. I could get 1 ticket in the 300 level...that's about it.

Then something strangely logical happened, they recognized the overwhelming demand and added another Toronto date--the next night, Sept 26th.

I still couldn't get floor tickets, but I did managed to pick up a pair of very nice seats. Row 6, dead center.

So I guess my point is that they added another Toronto date. Hopefully that'll drop demand a bit and lower auctioned ticket prices for those who missed out yesterday.

Cheers.

What The F?

2006-05-12T13:06:00.000-07:00

It's official, The Avalanche--Sufjan's July 25th release of extra material from the Illinois project--has been leaked.

Unfortunately I got kicked off Oink and the bloggers removed most of the download links before I got a chance to grab them.

I got a hold of a torrent from a public site...but it's being a bitch. I guess for the time being I'm SOL. That being said, I am downloading Wednesday's episode of LOST and last night's episode of The Office, which mysteriously wasn't televised?

I'm not really sure what the point of my ramblings are. Have some music.
Sufjan Stevens - The Perpetual Self, Or 'What Would Saul Alinsky Do?'

Dude, I heard that Illinois was originally supposed to be a ~50 song double album. No wonder he has so much extra material. From the sounds of it, The Avalanche will probably make my year end Top 10 list too.

Review - Stadium Arcadium

2006-05-08T18:05:00.000-07:00

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an interesting band. Anthony is one of the last true rock stars, Chad holds down the fort with rock-solid drumming, John and Flea are living legends. Ask them to write you a hit song and it'll take 'em about 14 seconds.

Unfortunately for them, all of their past success has become somewhat of a hinderance. Regardless of what new material the band puts out critics and bloggers will complain that it's a retread of past efforts.

But really, how could it not be? They've taken their sound around the world, under the bridge to higher ground, to the other side and back. With 7 seven platinum albums on the wall I think they've paid their dues.

Finally, after 4 long years of nothing--save for a Greatest Hits album--the Peppers are back with the double-album release, Stadium Arcadium.

First of all, it's long. 28 brand new tracks for your listening pleasure. A quick browse of the tracklist reveals nothing out of the ordinary. Pretty standard titles. Pop 'er into your player (or get it queued up on your iPod--whatever the case may be) and you're greeted with a track that sums up a lot of my feeling about this album.

It's good, there's no doubting that. But strangely empty.

As you make your way through the rest of the tracks you may find yourself wondering what's missing. I still haven't been able to pinpoint the exact problem. All the essentials are there; solid musicianship with a number of great Frusciante moments, great writing and lyrical content, rockin' basslines, an overall feel-good summer vibe...so what is it?

Too many mid-tempo songs? Maybe. Lack of variety? Not really. Maybe they all need to develop drug problems again.

Highlights include the tracks "Slow Cheetah", "Wet Sand", "Tell Me Baby", "Make You Feel Better" and the closer "Death Of A Martian".

7.0/10

Sweet Concert Announcement

2006-05-06T23:04:00.000-07:00

It's coming up fast, so you better act soon.

Sunset Rubdown (which features Wolf Parade's keyboardist/backing vocalist), Frog Eyes and Islands (formerly The Unicorns).

They'll be hitting the Opera House in Toronto this May 19th (yeah, 12 days from now). So get your ass in gear, tickets are still available on Ticketmaster ($13).

It's on a friday night, so no excuses for missing it. Also, make sure to have all your indie-wear clean. This show will be chalk full of indie hipsters, scenesters and other-sters.

In honour of this wonderful show, please click below and sample some work from each band.

Music
Sunset Rubdown - They Took A Vote And Said No
Frog Eyes - Russian Berries But You're Quiet Tonight
Islands - Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby

The Reddest, Hottest Tour Ever

2006-05-06T18:11:00.000-07:00

Thats right, if you couldn't guess from my clever title or the picture directly to the right, the Red Hot Chili Peppers will be touring! With multiple stops in Canada!

In support of their soon-to-be-released double album--Stadium Arcadium--Anthony, John, Chad and Flea will be hitting road late this summer and fall.

Canadian Dates
Sept 14th - Vancouver, BC
GM Place

Sept 16th - Calgary, AB
Pengrowth Saddledome

Sept 17th - Edmonton, AB
Rexall Place

Sept 19th - Saskatoon, SK
Saskatchewan Credit Union Centre

Sept 20th - Winnipeg, MB
MTS Centre

Sept 25th - Toronto, ON
Air Canada Centre

Sept 28th - Montreal, QC
Bell Centre

Oct 1st - Quebec City, QC
Pepsi Collisee

Basically the biggest possible venues in the biggest possible cities.

All tickets available on Ticketmaster, HoB and probably a bunch of other sites. Currently the fanclub presale is happening, so if you have a password you're a douchebag.

Tix are on sale to the general public May 13th @ 10am EST. Good luck getting GAs.

Born Ruffians Rock The Horseshoe

2006-05-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

Put an airtight band into a tiny venue in a big city and what do you get?

Energy. Electricity. The "Buzz".

That's exactly what happened last night at The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto where the Born Ruffians laid down a smokin' hot set.

As the openers for The Russian Futurists--who I regrettably wasn't able to stick around for--the Ruffians were remarkably civilized.

Singer/guitarist Luke LaLonde laid down some tasty riffs with just the right amount of swagger--at one point pulling out a bass to compliment the one already in Mitch DeRosier's hands.

Drummer Steve Hamelin holds it all together with some rock solid drumming, most catchiably on the track, 'This Sentence'.

The great show closed on an unbelievable high with the three musicians slowly ramping up the tempo to an enlightening crescendo of pure rock 'n roll bliss.

I look forward to more material from these guys in the future.

Check out some music--and get info on future dates--on their MySpace here.

Review - Quiznos Tzatziki Chicken

2006-05-03T23:31:00.000-07:00

When you walk into a Quiznos you immediately notice that it's not your average sandwich joint. It looks classy, it smells classy, it's as classy as you can get for ten bucks.

Recently they've had their straight-forwardly (is that a word?) titled Eat Chicken promotion on featuring 6 reasonably priced chicken choices. It seems however that these have become permanent additions to the menu.

The one I'm concerned with here is the Tzatziki Chicken sandwich (pic). Oh boy is it ever tasty. Black olives, tomato, red onion, lettuce and mozzarella cheese top the meat of this sandwich--chicken breast strips and bacon. Completing the mix is a creamy cucumber Greek Tzatziki dressing.

Toasted to perfection, I can't recall eating a tastier sub. There's nothing bad to say about it. The ingredients blend flawlessly (I guess sometimes a larger-than-normal chunk of onion can surprise you, not a huge deal) and every bite is filled with all the essentials.

The surprising highlight is the inclusion of black olives which have always been fairly hit or miss in the sandwich industry. Here the distinct taste meshes with the Tzatziki dressing and is sure to leave you wanting more.

All at a price lower than what you're likely to pay at Subway for a similar product.

Cost: $6.99 + tax
9.7/10

Tapes 'n Tapes 'n Toronto

2006-05-03T21:53:00.000-07:00

Finally. Jesus.

It seems like every band I like is giving Toronto the shaft this year. Today however, it was announced that reigning indie champs, Tapes 'n Tapes, will be coming to town to open for the Futureheads at the Phoenix Concert Theatre. Sweeeet.

A date of July 26th has been set. So--barring any natural disasters--it should be a pretty solid night.

Clerks II Looks....Kinda Crappy

2006-05-02T22:08:00.000-07:00

12 years ago Kevin Smith unleashed his comic genius on world with his debut film, Clerks. It won awards at a number of film festivals--including Sundance and Cannes--and won universal praise from critics around the world.

After mixed results with 5 films since then (Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Jersey Girl), Dante and Randal are ready to return to the big screen in Clerks II. A release date of August 18th, '06 has been set.

The recently released trailer (check it out below) reveals the basic storyline. The Kwik Stop burns down so the ultra-cynical duo end up flipping burgers at Mooby's--a powerful chain in the View Askew-niverse which you may remember from Dogma or Jay and Silent Bob.

It's difficult to be optimistic about this one...but who knows, maybe it'll be awesome?

I found two different trailers...the Yahoo! one makes it look dumber.
Trailer 1 (Yahoo!)
Trailer 2 (YouTube)

Radiohead + The Black Keys = Awesome

2006-05-02T21:45:00.000-07:00

Pitchfork is reporting today that The Black Keys will open several dates of Radiohead's long-awaited, much-anticipated, super-hyped up North American tour.

Unfortunately for me, the Keys will not be opening the Toronto show. Instead it'll be singer/songwriter Willy Mason who Pitchfork refers to as 'boring-ass'--which probably means he's pretty good.

Keys' Dates
June 10th and 11th - Montreal, QC
Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts

June 13th and 14th - New York, NY
The Theatre at Madison Square Garden

June 19th and 20th - Chicago, IL
Auditorium Theatre

The other act, opening for Radiohead on the west coast, is the very cool band Deerhoof.

The Raconteurs Hate America

2006-04-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

The Raconteurs have added a number of festival dates to their tour schedule. None of which take place within 5,000 miles of me. All of which take place in countries that look sort of like the one in the picture.

June 24th - Scheesel, Germany
Hurricane Festival

June 25th - Neuhausen O.E., Germany
Southside Festival

July 2nd - Roskilde, Denmark
Roskilde Festival

July 3rd - Malmo, Sweden
Accelerator - Folkets Park

July 5th - Kristiansand, Norway
Quart Festival

July 6th - Stockholm, Sweden
Accelerator - Munchenbryggeriet

The Avalanche Leaks

2006-04-30T11:29:00.000-07:00

So I did a little research, trying to figure out if 'The Henney Buggy Band' is a historical reference to an actual band. Wikipedia didn't know anything about it, so it's pretty safe to assume that it's a figment of Sufjan's imagination.

Anyways, it's a pretty good song. Track #6 on the upcoming album, The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album. Check it out.

Sufjan Stevens - The Henney Buggy Band

The Arctic Monkeys Suck?

2006-04-28T16:19:00.000-07:00

I'm in the midst of a musical conundrum of sorts.

My brain is telling me that I shouldn't like the Arctic Monkeys. It's a derivative mish-mash of British rock styles with an indie feel. It might have been groundbreaking if they broke out a few years ago, before The Strokes. Maybe.

That being said, it does rock pretty hard. "I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor" is easily the most catchy song of 2006, as well as in recent memory. I think that their uber-accessible sound combined with female-friendly titles, sing-alongable choruses and a general bad-ass image (as shown on the album cover) are responsible for their insanely fast rise to international fame.

For now I think it'll have to remain a guilty pleasure for me. Big Mac music to the highest degree. Though I wouldn't mind seeing them live.

Review - Thank You For Smoking

2006-04-28T12:36:00.000-07:00

So I'm back home for the summer. Yippee. Free of the deadlines and responsibility that come with higher education, I'm looking forward to a summer of golf, tennis, music and blogging. Of course it would be a lot nicer if my Internet wasn't being a dirty bitch, but I digress...

Being at home also means great access to movies. The first one I've had a chance to see is the great satirical comedy, Thank You For Smoking.

Rookie film-maker Jason Reitman writes and directs this film about lobbyist Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), Big Tobacco's chief spokesman and father of one. Reitman's quirky style is one I hope to see more of in the future.

Funded by the tobacco industry, Nick's job is to travel the globe and put a positive spin on cigarettes. In the face of rising health risk awareness, teen smoking is on the decline. In the quest to make cigarettes 'cool' again, the truth takes a back seat.

This is a movie about ethical relativism. What's right or wrong depends entirely on who you're asking the question and where they get their paycheck. "That's disgusting". "It's American".

This film isn't so much a critique on the selfish western mindset as it is an accurate and hilarious portrayal of it. Why concern yourself with with truth when you can just win the argument?

As Nick wages a war of spin and tries his best to bring his son up properly in a world of shifting values, a wonderfully comedic story emerges. It's likely to leave you satisfied and with a fresh perspective on the moral dilemmas that society is constantly trying to work through.

Or not. "If you argue correctly, you're never wrong". So feel free to disagree.

8.6/10

Death Of An Indie Salesman

2006-04-25T22:11:00.000-07:00

Make no mistake, the war is long over. It's been decades since music represented a true threat to 'the Man'. Once a powerful artform, the popular music industry has become just that--an industry.

The remaining sanctuary? The indie scene. Here the artists are free to sharpen their creative wits with full control over every detail of their project. Free of the marketing demands facing top draw music acts, an intenely diverse landscape of music takes shape. Can corporate America find a way to fuck this up too? They sure are trying.

Recently, Best Buy has begun offering hit indie records (Arcade Fire, New Pornographers, Broken Social Scene, etc) at the insanely low price, $7.99 USD, driving local mom and pop music shops out of business. How can they justify this?

It's called a co-op program. Basically this is when the label pays a retailer (with cash or product) for preferential product placement in stores (i.e. on an end display, not buried in the 'Y' section). This doesn't sound too bad, but "when co-op money is used to lower prices as substantially as Best Buy has, it's independent record shops that suffer the blow".

You can't blame consumers for trying to save money, you can't blame Best Buy for trying to turn a profit, so the indie community is lashing out at the only other party involved--the participating labels and artists.

They justify their actions by claiming that sale of the 'hot record' by these indie acts it will drive them to their local indie store to pick up the back catalogue. Who's right? I guess we'll see.

It's unlikely that this will have a large negative impact on the music itself, only the way it's distributed. Hopefully consumers will ultimately favour knowledgable, friendly and personal service...but with hard earned dollars at stake, the future for indie music shops looks bleak.

Read the full article here at Pitchfork. (scroll down a bit)

Review - McDonald's Big Mac

2006-04-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

The Big Mac.

More than likely the best selling sandwich of all time, with just the mention of it's name you can almost taste the secret sauce. How can one sandwich be so delicious and simultaneously embody everything that's wrong with western civilization?

Unfortunately for the Golden Arches, criticism is just part of the deal when you become the world's largest fast-food chain. With obesity levels at an all-time high, Rotten Ronnie's is an easy target for corcerned moms and health crusaders to pick on.

All elitism aside, let's talk about the sandwich.

Two beef patties, lettuce, pickle, onion, processed cheese, secret sauce is what you get here, all packed into a tri-layered sesame seed bun. Simple enough, the beauty of the sandwich comes from the carefully engineered blend of salty, sour and sweet flavours that enrich the meaty taste.

The distribution of ingredients is superb. There's not a dry bite to be found with this sandwich, only saucy goodness. Though you may have second thoughts afterward, it's a distinct taste that you will thoroughly enjoy during the meal. Years of fine-tuning have truly made this the people's sandwich.

Of course this is also from where the criticisms begin. Such a generic product is by defintion 'low taste'--shunned by anyone who aspires to join the higher class where caviar and filet mignon replaces fish sticks and Hamburger Helper. Not only that, people dimiss this entreé for a number of reasons; for some it's a method of countercultural protest, for some it's just the latest fad, "Down with McDonalds! Up with hipster coffee shops!".

One's views on this cultural icon is not a matter of taste--in the chemical sense of the word--it's a social statement. Ask someone if they like Big Macs and you're likely to learn quite a bit about them.

It is high quality? No. Is it the least bit good for you? No. Is it delicious? Hell yes, and don't you forget it.

7.8/10

The Raconteurs Are Slow

2006-04-24T18:05:00.000-07:00

After getting off to a quick start with 4 UK shows in 4 nights, The Raconteurs have slowed down considerably.

As this article goes to press, the have only 3 shows confirmed between now and August. One on the west coast, and two festivals--one in the UK, one in the US. Plus an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'brien, May 19th. Deets below.

June 7th - Hollywood, CA
Henry Fonda Theatre

June 21st - London, England
Wireless Festival - Hyde Park

August 4th - Chicago, IL
Lollapalooza - Grant Park

We want tour dates!! Cheers.

And for those of you who actually read to the bottom of this post, here's a super-awesome-extra-special bonus track. Straight from the Steady, As She Goes CD single, release today in the UK.

The Raconteurs - The Bane Rendition

P.S. RapidShare is kind of a bitch to use...but YouSendIt is being retarded. I'm sure you can figure it out.

Damn Kids Today...

2006-04-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

This picture showed up on CollegeHumor recently. It's the Dana Porter Library at the University of Waterloo where I go to school.

Coke Ad 2.0

2006-04-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

It seems that the video of the Jack White Coca-Cola ad circulating the net for the last few days is actually a shorter, edited version of the full length.

I'm a pretty nice guy. So here's the full version:

Review - Broken Boy Soldiers

2006-04-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

If someone read this blog right now they'd probably think it was about sandwiches. So I guess I should post something relevant.

Time to review one of my most anticipated releases of the year--Broken Boy Soldiers, from The Raconteurs. I'm sure it'll come off as fanboy talk, but oh well. This is a very good album.

It begins with the single, the first song written for the album by Jack White (The White Stripes) and Brendan Benson some time ago, "Steady, As She Goes".

With an intro reminiscent of the Joe Jackson tune "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" it sets the tone early for an album that sounds both completely new and strangely familiar. Tracks like "Hands" and "Intimate Secretary" demonstrate this quality particularly well. The most fitting--albeit hokey--analogy that comes to mind is the '04 Ford GT (pic)--a classic reborn.

This is a testament to the variety of influences that each member brings to the album. The result is an album as diverse as the individuals that created it. The pop-rock styles of "Steady" and "Yellow Sun", the country feel of "Hands", the classic rock quality of "Secretary" and "Level", the experimental jams like "Soldiers" and the bluesy riffs of "Veins". They coalesce into a very engaging and enjoyable 34 minutes of music.

Another distinguishing quality of this album is its simplistic sound. Benson albums tend to be very dense musical experiences and Jack and Meg produce a surprisingly full sound between the two of them as The White Stripes. The Raconteurs' debut however is relatively sparse and echo-y for a quartet.

Though I don't mean to imply this as a negative, it allows them to create a sound all their own in this more than acceptable debut album. Jack and Brendan's vocals--though sometimes difficult to distinguish--mesh wonderfully, Jack Lawrence (bass) and Patrick Keelers (drums) of The Greenhornes complete the rock solid rhythm section. In fact Pat makes me want to be a drummer.

My only criticism of the album comes with some of the bells and whistles added into the mix on some songs. "Intimate Secretary" is a prime example. In my opinion, the whirs and dings subtract from the otherwise raw, rockin' feel of the song. But since it's still one of my favorite tracks of the album, I guess it's not a huge deal.

Having already heard some live performances, I can tell you that--in typical Jack White style--it's a completely different sound when they're onstage. All I can do is keep it steady on the level until they come to Toronto.

9.0/10

I Had News/That Didn't Matter

2006-04-17T00:45:00.000-07:00

Just a little site update. As I'm sure you've already noticed, I spent a few hours playing with Photoshop and the blog template so I could have a cool image-title in my header space.

I made a couple different ones. That's the one I decided to go with. It'll probably change in the future though. I've found that it's a spectacular way to procrastinate.

So if you like it, feel free to tell me. If you don't like it, looks like you're S.O.L. Better luck next time.

$ I Love Money $

2006-04-17T00:35:00.000-07:00

It's tax season. As a student, that means big money coming my way. I should be getting somewhere in the neighbourhood of $1700 back from The Man.

That's a decent chunk of change.

What to do with it, what to do? I'm thinking Mexico, and a golf membership? I have a feeling my parents are going to insist on paying off some debt...borrring.

Paying off debt kills my soul. Heck, maybe I'll join my badly drawn buddy and invest in some coffee.

Money music:
Pink Floyd - Money
Eagles of Death Metal - Stacks O' Money
White Stripes - One More Cup of Coffee

Review - KFC's Spicy Big Crunch

2006-04-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

This sandwich gets a lot of press based on the sheer size of the thing. "The biggest chicken sandwich in Canada," they say. I'm not very impressed.

I mean, for a fast food sandwich its sort of big. But come on, that's like bragging about being the toughest Frenchman--cool for you, but nevertheless insignificant.

So, what to say about this sandwich. It's not very complicated. Sesame seed bun, chicken breast--breaded and fried, lettuce and spicy sauce is what you're paying for here. A tomato would be nice, or anything to add some moisture to each dry, batter-filled bite.

The key with breaded chicken is to maintain consistent coverage throughout the sandwich. Difficult to do with the oddly shaped KFC chicken breats--one of the drawbacks of such mass production I'm sure.

The saucy centre area of the sandwich is the highlight, however satisfaction is likely to decrease as you approach the perimeter.

All in all it's a satisfactory sandwich, but unless you're really craving some fried chicken I'd recommend that you try something else on the menu--oh wait, that's all they serve. Damn.

5.2/10

Animal Rights Activists Rejoice!

2006-04-15T14:53:00.000-07:00

At last, beef even they can enjoy.

Wagyu cattle--one of the most expensive breeds in the world--are raised on a special diet of beer and grain and massaged weekly with sake--japanese rice wine.

This cruelty-free beef can be found as the primary filling of a new $148 sandwich--the most expensive in the world--at the London department store, Selfridges.

The McDonald sandwich, named after creator Scott McDonald, consists of the gourmet beef, fresh lobe foie gras, black truffle mayonnaise, brie de meaux, rocket, red pepper and mustard confit and English plum tomatoes.

I don't know what half of that is...sounds tasty though. Maybe they'll give me one for free if I review it on my blog?

Click here for a full article on the sandwich.

Coke = Love

2006-04-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

Jack White of the White Stripes is an interesting fellow. A few years ago he reportedly turned down $1,000,000 offered by the Gap to have Jack and Meg appear in an ad campaign.

More recently, he signed a deal with Coca-Cola in which he agreed to write and perform a jingle for an upcoming Coke campaign.

Not surprisingly, this decision was met with ridicule and outrage from reporters, contemporaries and fans alike. I've remained kind of neutral throughout. There are just people who make music and people who listen to music.

Anyways, here's the finished commerical--as broadcast in Australia. There are rumours flying that it may never hit North American soil.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD.

Personally, I like it. The concept is effin' sweet, the song is catchy and the message is pretty much what I expected...bullshit but harmless.

Keep in mind that no one is dumb enough to actually think Coke = Love, this is just a method of classical condition--attaching happy-go-lucky feelings to a brand name. Molson did it with Patriotism, Axe does it with sex, this is nothing new.

Review - Death By Sexy

2006-04-13T22:46:00.001-07:00

Josh Homme is the man.

From Desert Sessions to Queens of the Stone Age, everything he does rocks exceptionally hard. The Eagles of Death Metal project is no exception. The band's 2004 debut--Peace, Love, Death Metal--was a much needed reminder of how much fun rock 'n roll can be when you don't take everything so seriously.

It was also proof of how good music can be when they people making it are having fun. Josh (aka. Carlo Von Sexron) and lead singer Jesse 'the Devil' Hughes sounded like they were having a blast from start to finish. The result was a fine piece of work that made you feel like getting drunk and buying a trailer.

Two days ago the band unleashed their sophomore album--Death By Sexy--on the public. Reactions have been mixed.

It doesn't stray far from the cock-rock archetype laid down on the debut, though the compositions are noticably more dense than the previous, more minimalistic effort. This shift finds varying degrees of success throughout the record.

The best tracks are still the ones featuring bare-boned bass-kick-snare lines like "I Like To Move It In The Night" and the tasty guitar riff displays in songs like "Shasta Beast".

Jesse's super-authentic high pitched vocals help to give this album a classic feel--as they did on PLDM. Tracks like "Solid Gold" and "I Gotta Feeling (Just Nineteen)" are proof positive of Mr. Hughes dintinguished stylings.

As a single entity, each track succeeds in its toe-tappin' purpose. As a collection, the sounds become more difficult to distinguish from one another. The album has moments of brilliance in songs like "Chase The Devil", but only the most devoted California-dessert-dweller will be able to leave this one spinning for days on end.

After 37 minutes of metaphors involving sex, drugs and general unruly behavior you may find that end does not justify the means, regardless of how rockin' the ride may be. But if you're in the mood to get drunk and buy a trailer, look no further.

6.9/10

8 Hour Drive Eh?...

2006-04-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

August is a great month. The scorching midday sun, the cool evening breeze. Great times.

What makes it an especially good month is the abundance of music festivals throughout North America. Lollapalooza, Pitchfork (late-July counts) and a new arrival, Kuyahoga--making its debut near Cleveland, OH on Thursday, August 3rd this year.

Confirmed acts include The Flaming Lips, Death Cab For Cutie, Secret Machines, The Hold Steady, Wolfmother, The Go! Team, Sonic Youth and more. Sounds pretty solid already and there are more to be announced soon.

All this for a more than reasonable price. $19.50-$39.50USD. Look for tickets here and here starting this Saturday at 10am EST.

Cheers!

Every Picture Tells A Story

2006-04-13T02:23:00.000-07:00

Here it is, the cover art for the forthcoming debut album from The Raconteurs--which means 'story-tellers'--Broken Boy Soldiers. I've managed to finagle a copy off the internet so keep an eye out for my review of the album, coming soon to a blog near you.

Adlai Stevenson

2006-04-12T18:29:00.000-07:00

Born Adlai Ewing Stevenson II in 1900, the American politician was revered for his public speaking and debate skill. He was the governor of Illinois from '49-'53 and twice an unsuccessful Democratic Presidential Candidate.

He's also the inspiration of the most recently leaked track from the upcoming Sufjan Stevens album. Check it out:

Sufjan Stevens - Adlai Stevenson

Review - V For Vendetta

2006-04-12T15:31:00.000-07:00

Being a poor student who is also well removed from the nearest movie theatre, it took me quite a while to see this film. Fortunately it was very much worth the wait.

Hugo Weaving (Lord of the Rings, The Matrix) plays freedom fighter/terrorist, "V". His aim is nothing short of overthrowing the futuristic totalitarian government of Britain by way uniting the people in a quest for freedom from years of fear-induced compliance--and of course by way of kick-ass explosions.

His reluctant female counterpart, Evey, played by the lovely Natalie Portman (Closer, Garden State) is a girl who has first hand experience of the evils of the ruling government. After meeting V she finds herself caught up in a world of uncertainty and revolution where she struggles to act according to what is right and good, not according to conditioned expectations.

Spectacularly written and directed by The Matrix's Wachowski Brothers, this film offers vivid warnings as to what is possible when civil liberties are removed in the name of 'safety' and 'security'. The scary part is when the the government creates the insecurity in the first place.

Weaving is flawless as V--especially impressive when you consider that he's always behind a mask--delivering his poetic monologues with passion and conviction. Portman continues her great work, displaying her versatility with convincing displays of terror, agony and sadness.

V For Vendetta, the story of a hero in a 1984-esque epic, works as a stinging criticism of corrupt goverments and also of the direction that current Western governments seem to be moving in. Reminding us that ideas are more important than idea-makers and that nothing worth the cost of freedom.

9.2/10

Review - Mustachio's Chicken Breast

2006-04-12T12:52:00.000-07:00

This is the inaugaral post of a new feature here at Opinions, an element that is sure to set this blog apart from the rest of the blogosphere. A feature so worthy of being featured that to not feature it would be a disservice to the public.

Drumroll please......The Sandwich Review.

Subs, clubs, burgers and hoagies--if it's a sandwich, I got it covered. So next time you're hungry, you needn't look any further than right here.

On to the review!!

The first sandwich I'll be covering ranks as a 10.0 on the exotometer. Available at only one location on the globe, it's the super-authenic-Italian Chicken Breast from Mustachio's--located in the bottom of the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto.

Served on a fresh kaiser with a great tomato sauce and is made in under 30 seconds, this is a tasty sandwich. I got it with the works (sauteed onion, pepper and mushroom) and would recommend that you do the same. These toppings are piled high onto the thin, breaded chicken breast that is--sorry to say--the low point of the sandwich.

When the the bite contains all elements of the sandwich, it's fantastic. But when the chicken lacks coverage it can be a bit dry. A thicker, juicier breast would serve this sandwich much better. That being said, I give this sandwich high praise and would pick up another one if and when given the chance.

Cost: $4.79 + tax
7.5/10

Music I Heard This Week

2006-04-11T21:15:00.000-07:00

So, Clap Your Flaming Lips Say Yeah Yeah Yeah Week is over and done with. 3 shows in 6 days...intense.

If I were forced to rank them...I'd have to go:
3) Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
1) The Flaming Lips

And that's not saying anything bad about the YYYs--that was a great show--it's just massive praise for the other 2 bands. Anyways, here's some CYFLSYYY Week related music.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Satan Said Dance (Live)
Upon This Tidal Wave Of Young Blood (Live)

Flaming Lips
Race For The Prize (Live)
Love Yer Brain

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Art Star
Miles Away

I Heart NYC

2006-04-11T17:41:00.000-07:00

Ultra-confident, super-sexy, mildly-unstable. Those are some of the terms that come to mind when describing Karen O, frontwoman of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Their tour stopped at the Kool Haus in Toronto for a few hours last night.

When Karen and the boys took the stage at 10:30 their sheer presence in the room was enough to set the crowd off. But the telling bass kick intro from drummer Brian Chase let everyone know what was first on the menu--the hit single, "Gold Lion". This song was everything I hoped it would be when performed live, Nick's guitar sound during the chorus is spectacular.

The real highlights were the occasional inclusions of material from Fever To Tell and beyond. "Y Control", "Miles Away" and the closer "Date With The Night" were superb.

For the encore Karen came out dressed in weird skeleton-ish costume with frilly things (click here to see a pic) and played the song that a good portion of the crowd was there to see--"Maps". My personal favorite song of the night was undoubtedly "Art Star" from the self-titled EP.

The performance was more or less what I expected. Beer spraying, mic swallowing Karen was a treat to watch. Nick's unmistakable mannerisms and style of play produced amazing sounds (even when he lost a couple strings and was forced to do some serious improvisation). Brian literally destroyed his drum kit--it required at least 4 repairs throughout the night and at one point he knocked the bass and tom setup completely over.

The only real disappointment came at the Gypsy Coop after-party on Queen West when the band(s) failed to show up before we left at quarter-to-two and after I spent twenty friggin' bucks on alcohol. That kind of takes the fun out of infiltrating it eh? Oh well, I did see MuchMusic personality Devon Soltendieck, Score!

Setlist (from what I can remember):
01. Gold Lion
02. Honeybear
03. Fancy
04. Black Tongue
05. Phenomena
06. Cheated Hearts
07. Miles Away
08. Mysteries
09. Dudley
10. Turn Into
11. Y Control
12. The Sweets

Encore:
01. Maps
02. Warrior
03. Tick
04. Art Star
05. Modern Romance
06. Date With The Night

Clap "Yeah!"

2006-04-09T18:31:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had one of those moments where everything just fits into place? The sights, the sounds, everything. I had a few of those moments last night at the Opera House in Toronto where Clap Your Hands Say Yeah put on a great show.

The opening act was an interesting sextet from Nea Zealand called The Brunettes. They condensed a whole whack of intruments-- including a clarinet, a trumpet, a triangle, a bunch of keyboards and some xylophones--into their thirty minute set.

While it was pretty good music, they lost a little steam toward the end of the show before capping it off with a weird ditty about Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, complete with freaky masks.

Much to my surprise, the crowd went absolutely nuts for CYHSY. I couldn't believe it, since when do hipsters get so vocal? All of this noise definitely added to the electric atmosphere created by the New York based five-some.

There was nothing particularily astounding about the performance itself--pretty much by the book. It was just great, great music. I was really impressed by their live sound. Really impressed.

You could tell that the band was having a blast on stage as they fed off of the abnormally rambunctious crowd. Especially after an impromptu decision to extend their encore by adding a Tragically Hip cover to the tail end--obviously to the surprise of the guitarist/keyboardist who was already exiting the stage.

Highlights included the fan favorite "Is This Love?", "Satan Said Dance", the opening set closer "Upon This Tidal Wave Of Young Blood" and the intended closer "Heavy Metal".

Here's my approixmation of the setlist:
01. Let The Cool Goddess Rust Away
02. This Home On Ice
03. Same Loud Thunder
04. Is This Love?
05. Over and Over Again
06. Details Of The War
07. Gimme Some Salt
08. The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth
09. Satan Said Dance
10. Upon This Tidal Wave Of Young Blood

Encore:
01. Clap Your Hands!
02. Unknown
03. Me And You Watson
04. Heavy Metal
05. Hip Cover (Not exactly sure which song...)

Check the Avalanche.

2006-04-08T00:36:00.000-07:00

Here it is, the first song from the upcoming Sufjan Stevens album; The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album.

Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche

Springtime is Here.

2006-04-07T18:20:00.000-07:00

Ah yes. The leaves are blooming, the birds are singing. It doesn't get much better than this. Especially if you happen to be at The Masters.

The lengendary PGA Tour Major tournament has long been a sign that Spring has sprung and this year is no different. Nowhere in a America will you find greener or more perfectly manicured landscapes. It's really a site to behold.

Be sure to tune into CBS's coverage of The Masters this weekend as Tiger tries to repeat last year's winning performance and slide on his 5th green jacket.

New Sufjan!!

2006-04-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

Breaking news: New Sufjan Stevens album out July 25th!

Unfortunately it's not another state album, but an extension of the best album of 2005--Illinois.

It will be titled The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album and released on Asthmatic Kitty.

Slightly disappointing and majorly spectacular at the same time. I can't wait.

Here's the tracklist (in typical Sufjan style):
1. The Avalanche
2. Dear Mr Supercomputer
3. Adlai Stevenson
4. The Vivian Girls Are Visited in the Night by Saint Dargarius and His Squadron of Benevolent Butterflies
5. Chicago (Acoustic Version)
6. The Henney Buggy Band
7. Saul Bellow
8. Carlyle Lake
9. Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in His Hair
10. The Mistress Witch From McClure (Or, The Mind That Knows Itself)
11. Kaskaskia River
12. Chicago (Adult Contemporary Easy Listening Version)
13. Inaugural Pop Music for Jane Margaret Byrne
14. No Man's Land
15. The Palm Sunday Tornado Hits Crystal Lake
16. The Pick-up
17. The Perpetual Self, or "What Would Saul Alinsky Do?"
18. For Clyde Tombaugh
19. Chicago (Multiple Personality Disorder version)
20. Pittsfield
21. The Undivided Self (For Eppie and Popo)

Note the 3 versions of Chicago! Yes. Oh, check out the full article on Pitchfork.

Cheers!

Big Mac Music

2006-04-06T20:10:00.000-07:00

Let's get one thing straight. Big Macs are delicious. I know that all you health-food trendsters and 'high-taste' scenesters will enthusiastically disagree. But the fact is that you're lying, to yourself and everyone else. They're specifically designed to be delicious.

Now, you may say that you don't like Big Macs. That's perfectly acceptable, as long as you realize why.

The reason is that your brain gets in the way. For whatever reason--some more and some less noble--you think that you shouldn't like Big Macs. They're unhealthy, they're low quality, they're made of dead cow, whatever. The consideration of these facts is what makes you repress the instinctual 'it's deliscious' response and illicits the apparently morally or intellectually superior 'ew, no thanks response'.

The same is true for music. A large portion of popular music these days is pleasing to anyone's ear, but the inevitable moral and intellectual analysis of the music casts it as good or bad, cool or uncool, hot or not.

Case in point: the new Red Hot Chili Peppers song, "Dani California".

It's pleasing to the ear. How could it not be? It has radio-friendly-album-promoter written all over it. But it's distinctly un-peppers, especially the chorus. It's much more polished and typical than what we're used to seeing from the RHCP.

See what I mean:
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dani California

Flaming Lips Show - A Visual Guide

2006-04-06T16:47:00.000-07:00

I managed to find some great pics of the Lips show I attended the other night in Toronto. Enjoy.

The signature Flaming Lips text intro, "...The Flaming Lips will change your life, and you will say 'FUCK YEAH!'".

A great wide shot of the balloon-filled opener, Race For The Prize. Note the Santas (Christianity) and aliens (Scientology).

A Lips staple, the miniature camera mounted on Wayne's mic grabs super-closeups of his face.

Wayne and the Virgin Mary direct a great sing-along of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.

One of many rounds of confetti fired into the air by Wayne during the night. But unfortunately none into the audience.

The awesome Cow/Duck Jam, featuring that modified kids piano. Definitely one of the highlights of the night.

The giant ballon full of confetti--inflated with a leaf blower--made its appearance after She Don't Use Jelly (I think). What an explosion.

A good wide shot of the band during the first set closer (I think), Do You Realize??. What a spectacular show.

Check out my review of the show: CLICK HERE

And here's where all the photos came from: HERE and HERE

Review - Inside Man

2006-04-06T14:13:00.000-07:00

The late winter and early Spring months have always been slow times for the movie industry. This year it's especially true--the number of decent movies that have been released in the last 3 months can be counted on one hand. Bad omens aside, I had very high expectations for Spike Lee's Inside Man.

A great director and a great cast--including Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster and the always great Willem Dafoe--were part of bringing this stellar twisting-and-turning screenplay to life.

Detective Keith Frazier (Washington) finds himself thrust into dealing with 'the perfect bank robbery' orchestrated by the cunning Dalton Russel (Owen). The true motivation of this confident--but strangely compassionate--crook is a large part of the film's mystery and what seperates it from the average heist flick.

Of course it's not quite this simple, bank Chairman Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer) is willing to use all of his power and any tool at his disposal--the main tool being the well-connected Madeline White (Foster)--to protect the contents of a certain safety deposit box inside the bank.

This a movie that jumps out of the blocks and never looks back, it establishes a lightning quick pace in the opening minutes and does not slow down. Of course it's impossible to watch such a movie without comparing in to Dog Day Afternoon--perhaps the best heist flick of all time. Fortunately they are very different movies about very different things. Afternoon focuses on the intense psychological pressure felt by Pacino's Sonny while Inside Man is concerned with social responsibility, truth and honour.

Mistakes are few and far between. Apart from a couple of dialogue inconsistencies and a short misfit scene or two this is superbly crafted thriller. Thoroughly engaging from Clive Owen's opening monologue to the end credits, we're definitely in trouble if a screenwriter ever decides to rob a bank.

8.8/10

Wayne Coyne For President!

2006-04-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

The Flaming Lips have just finished blowing the lid off of the Phoenix Concert Theatre with their performance of--perhaps their most well known song--"Do You Realize??". My buddy turns to me, "Dude, I think that's the closest I've ever come to having a spiritual experience." What's crazy is that he's not entirely kidding.

To get an idea of the Flaming Lips live experience, consider this list of included elements:

A transparent-pink drum kit, confetti, a kids piano that makes animal sounds, 2 electric guitars, 3 Santas, about 50 balloons (3ft diameter), a leaf blower, a keyboard, a smoke machine, streamer gun with streamers, Tiffany-Amber Thiessen, suntan lotion, flashlights, an acoustic guitar, a flashlight on a rope, hamburgers, a giant balloon full of confetti, a bass guitar, 3 aliens, a puppet of the Virgin Mary, a mic-mounted camera, a skeleton, a topless dancer, sensual food eating, a wide array of asian cultural references, chewed food, a Christianity vs. Scientology battle, Jon Stewart, weird anecdotes, the Bush administration, plastic boobs, a 20x20 projection display, and some kick-ass music.

The show opens with the Lips signature text introduction on the big screen, the music pumping, the balloons filling the room. By the time the intro is over the crowd is bursting with enthusiasm, the confetti is flying and the band rips into "Race For The Prize", no one in the joint is standing still.

It's an experince that's truly impossible to convey with words. If everyone could take part in that at some point in their life the world would be a much better place.

One of the greatest and most unique elements of a Lips show is the pleasure of the pauses. With most bands, if the singer talks between songs you really just tolerate it until the show continues. With Mr. Wayne Coyne it's a different story, his mannerisms and storytelling abilities really grab the audience. You actually listen to what he has to say, some of which is pretty meaningful.

The show continues with a song that takes only a couple seconds to figure out, a fantastic rendition of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody"--the lyrics of which are projected onto the big screen--it gets everyone singing along.

It's just jam packed with great music and great moments. "Yoshimi" is capped off with a Virgin Mary puppet directed sing-along. The Cow/Duck Jam with the modified kids piano and Christianity vs. Scientology flashlight battle is classic Lips quirkiness. The new album is well represented with performances of "Free Radicals", "Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" and "The W.A.N.D.". I can't say enough great things about it.

Of course no Lips show would be complete without some sort of political statement, the method of choice? A fully rocked-out cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" to close the show, complete with a shockingly edited slide show of Bush administration video clips.

It wasn't a long show--just over an hour, 14 songs--but it was 110% entertaining from start to finish. Rock on Wayne, rock on. When the Lips are in town there's no where else I want to be.

Setlist:
1. Intro
2. Race for the Prize
3. Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen cover)
4. Free Radicals
5. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1 (w/sing along)
6. Cow/Duck Jam
7. Yoshimi Pt. 2 (Christianity vs. Scientology Battle)
8. Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
9. She Don't Use Jelly (w/sing along)
10. The W.A.N.D.
11. Do You Realize??

Encore:
1. Love Y'er Brain
2. War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover)

Ay, Carumba!!

2006-04-03T14:47:00.001-07:00

Alright, it appears that the bitches over at YouTube have cut the cord on the Simpsons Movie teaser trailer.

Here a link to a permanent video over at Apple Trailers.
CLICK HERE.

It still has the potential to be one of the most massive movies ever conceived. I hope it doesn't suck.

Wolf Attack!

2006-04-02T18:48:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else noticed the crazy amount of wolf references in pop culture these days?

Wolfmother, Wolf Creek, AIDS Wolf, We Are Wolves, Patrick Wolf, Wolf Eyes, Wolverine, Peter and the Wolf, Tiger Bear Wolf, Sea Wolf, Dances With Wolves, Guitar Wolf...and on and on.

Well tonight I was just doing what I do best--procrastinating--and came across a couple of good wolf-related videos.

The first is a new Wolf Parade video that's up on Sub Pop for the song I'll Believe In Anything.
CLICK HERE.

The second is a short but hilarious Public Service Announcement from Dwight--of NBC's hit sitcom, The Office--concerning wolves and meteors.
CLICK HERE.

High School Flashback

2006-04-02T00:05:00.000-08:00

Good old high school. Oh how I miss the days when schoolwork was easy and decisions weren't life-changing. Here's a song that takes me back, I came across this track while browsing The Hype Machine the other day. It's an acoustic version of Freakish, off of the Stay What You Are album by Saves The Day--one of the first commercially successful emo bands.

Saves The Day - Freakish (Acoustic)

Video > Audio

2006-04-01T13:43:00.000-08:00

The Raconteurs made their television debut last night, rockin' out on BBC 3's Guerilla Gig Live. They performed 2 tracks from the upcoming album--Broken Boy Soldiers. I'm so ridiculously excited for this release, especially after seeing and hearing all these recent live performances. Just for you I've uploaded the videos of each.

Enjoy.

Steady, As She Goes [avi, 25MB]
Intimate Secretary [avi, 25MB]

If you can't get the vids to play, you'll need to get an XviD codec. Click Here. Just download and run it to install.

Counterpoint - Scientology

2006-03-31T14:19:00.000-08:00

Scientology.

Even the word itself looks crazy. I mean what is it? Science? Tology? Most people really have no idea, they just see Tom Cruise hopping around starting cracking jokes. And most of the people who do know something about it got all their info from South Park...not exactly an unbiased source of information.

Lately, Scientology has been making pretty big headlines. There's the ongoing Cruis-ades, the Isaac Hayes-South Park confusion and the mass suici...err wait, that hasn't happened yet. You never can be sure with these cults.

All jokes aside, what is Scientology really about? After doing a bit of research I found that it's not really as wacky as people like to think--well, sort of.

Scientologists believe that an individual is made up of three parts. The immortal thetan (i.e. the soul or spirit), the mind which communicates the thetan's control over the third part, the body. Alright, nothing too earth-shattering there.

The thetan has had many past lives and continues to exist after the death of the body, it is naturally good but is turned bad through the accumulation of negative experiences in life. The goal of Scientology is to return the thetan to its original form of clarity and freedom.

This goal is pursued through three main practices of Scientology:

1) Auditing - a one-on-one session with a Scientology counsellor. This process uses an 'E-meter' to measure the electrical resistance of the skin--a direct measure of the problems in one's life.

2) ARC Triangle - An acronym for affinity, reality and communication. Scientology posits that improving one of these elements in your life automatically improves the other two.

3) The Tone Scale - a scale that rates--among other things--the health, moods and self-esteem of the subject from -40 to +40. The lower the score the more complex the problems.

The popular newsmedia has also made clear another belief of Scientology, their strong position against drugs of any kind--prescription or street. They believe that these chemicals are toxins that cloud and alter the perception of the mind. Clearly Mr. Cruise has taken this a couple steps too far with his public attacks of psychology, but the underlying principle is considerably more noble.

The craziness begins when you start getting into the literature of Scientology. Written by founder L. Ron Hubbard more than 50 years ago, it's an unusual tale of what most people would label science fiction,

"Xenu, the galactic tyrant first kidnapped certain individuals who were deemed ?excess population´ and loaded these individuals into space planes for transport to the site of extermination, the planet of Teegeeack (Earth). These space planes were said to have been copies of Douglas DC-8s, except with rocket engines. He then stacked hundreds of billions of these frozen victims around Earth's volcanoes 75 million years ago before blowing them up with hydrogen bombs and brainwashing them with a "three-D, super colossal motion picture" for 36 days, telling them lies of what they are and what the universe should be like and telling them that they are 3 different things: 'Jesus, God, and The Devil.'" (Wikipedia)

Before you start laughing, consider the basis of other popular world religions. All-powerful deities? Virgin mothers? Water into wine? Not exactly 'normal' stuff. The story of Scientology can easily be interpreted symbolically if you want to take it seriously--an entertaining context for the underlying message.

Perhaps the biggest criticism of Scientology is based on the fact that they charge for membership. "Why should salvation have a price tag?", people ask. Again it would be wise to compare this faith to more established faiths of the world. Catholocism, for example brings in billions of tax-free dollars annually from people who 'donate' portions of their yearly income.

To me, Scientology seems to be a healthy mix of wholistic eastern religion and personal western religion with a sci-fi twist. The fact that it's membership includes a number of A-list celebrities only makes it more vulnerable to attacks from cartoonists and late night talk show hosts.

I'm not saying you should all convert to Scientology, I'm just saying it's no more ridiculous than any other belief system.

Review - At War With The Mystics

2006-03-30T15:17:00.000-08:00

My first exposure to the Flaming Lips was at the 2003 Toronto mega-event, Molson Canadian Rocks: Rolling Stones & Friends--aka SarsStock. They took the stage in the early afternoon as part of a lineup that included Rush, AC/DC and obviously, the Rolling Stones in front of somewhere around 450,000 fans.

I realized then--and had it confirmed again six months later--that the Flaming Lips are crazy. Crazy like a genius fox. Their live show is a one-of-a-kind feast for the senses full of dancing animals, confetti guns, weird anecdotes, giant balloons and spectacularily trippy music. It's concentrated entertainment extract, probably lethal in heavy doses.

Anyways, this is a review of their forthcoming album At War With The Mystics--dropping April 4th on Warner Bros. Records. It's the first release from frontman Wayne Coyne and the band since 2002's Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots and it's actually kind of tough to review. You can't really establish a basis of comparison, they've nearly become their own genre.

The record is a sprinkled mosaic of styles, all noticably more rockin' than previous efforts. Catchy, classic-feel guitar riffs fills songs like "The W.A.N.D.". Funkier rock-esque jams fill songs like "Free Radicals". Weird pop experiments like "Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" are a welcomed sound. It's really pretty overwhelming.

Lyrical content however, remains essentially the same. There are the signature existential space-rock tracks like "The Sound of Failure/It's Dark...Is It Always This Dark??" and social commentaries like "Yeah Yeah Yeah Song". Songs about happiness, songs about sadness, the Lips are ever concerned with the simultaneous strength and fragility of the human condition.

I really don't have anything bad to say about this album. It's engaging from start to finish, flows flawlessly and an honest listen will leave you with more than a few riffs and chorus' stuck in your head. This is a fine piece of work and my (second) favorite Lips album, though the uninitiated listener may have to give it a few spins before they 'get it'.

9.3/10

What Does A Scanner See?

2006-03-30T13:10:00.000-08:00

Richard Linklater is one of my personal idols. The brilliant and innovative writer/director has put out several movies that have made my list of favorites. Including Waking Life, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Tape.

For 2001's Waking Life he employed a mind-melting style of animation that gave the whole film a dream-like quality--nicely complimenting the film's content. First he shot the movie like anyone normally would, but then had a team of animators go over every frame in varying degrees of detail. Here's a sample:

Fast forward 5 years, he's done a few more movies--including the mainstream hit School Of Rock--and seems to be in the mood for experimenting some more. The experiment? Bringing the wild animation of Waking Life to a much wider audience with a new indie film, a Philip K. Dick adaption, A Scanner Darkly.

Keanu Reeves plays the lead role set in a futuristic Orange County where paranoia is a way of life. 1 in 5 Americans have been recuited by the government to spy on their fellow citizens in the name of drug control. Other than that I'm not quite sure...something about Substance D, a scanner and some messed up psychological stuff.

Check the brand new 2 minute trailer for a better idea of what you're getting into: CLICK HERE

The film is scheduled for a limited released on July 7th.

The Raconteurs on the Radio...TWICE!

2006-03-29T21:00:00.000-08:00

That's right, crank the volume.

Jack, Brendan and the boys made another appearance on BBC Radio today, this time on the Zane Lowe Show. I'm listening to it as I make this post, I have to say that I echo Zane's enthusiasm, "whatever you thought about the Raconteurs before, you really don't know what you've got coming for you."

Check out the show right here.

Store Bought Bones
Call It A Day
Intimate Secretary

(Sorry 'bout the editing, the interviews are attached to the songs, but whatever, it's all good.)

The band also made an appearance on British XFM Satellite Radio a few short hours after the BBC show. An interview and five (5) live songs!

Get 'em while they're hot.

Interview
Level
Intimate Secretary
Steady, As She Goes
Together
Hands

Cheers!

Friends With Blogs

2006-03-29T15:40:00.000-08:00

Good afternoon. How's everybody feeling today? Good? Good.

I'm actually on my way out, I just thought I'd do my good deed for the day and let all of my loyal readership know about some other kick ass blogs.

Vice is the Spice...Dig? is my buddy Jordo's blog. It's kinda pretty similar to this one. Music, movies, news, etc. Except I'm a waaay better writer. Ha! Just kiddin' Jordo.

Random Collection is a blog for all things Domsy. It doesn't really have a specific focus as of yet, I'm sure it'll mostly be filled with stories about how great he is. Ha! Just kiddin' Doms.

Cheers!

Personalize This

2006-03-28T21:02:00.000-08:00

Have you noticed how isolating of an experience listening to music has become? It seems like everyone you pass in the street is staring straight ahead, white earbuds firmly in place pumping who knows what into their inner ear. We rush past each other and not only are we avoiding social interaction, but we couldn't even hear each other if we wanted to interact. It's kind of depressing.

I mean I'm in class waiting for the prof to start and more than half the students are sitting in silence, plugged into their mp3 players just tapping a pen to the beat. Personal taste in music has become an important part of the individuality of today's youth--a playlist can tell you almost as much about someone as a conversation with them--but is this freedom of personal expression coming at the cost of basic and essential social interactions?

It's not just in class either. It's in line at the coffee shop, it's in shopping malls, heck I've even seen people bring headphones to a concert. That's fucked up.

So what am I getting at here...I'm not quite sure. I'm guilty of most of these things myself. We've just seen such a radical shift to personalization in recent years that I think it's destroying our sense of community. Back in the day--long before my time--people had only a few TV channels, a few radio stations, they were generally exposed to the same mass media. Everyone knew who The Beatles were.

Today, 50% of people haven't heard of what 50% of people are listening to or watching...if that makes any sense. We all fit into our own little corner of the universe and are too busy adjusting the volume on our iPod to look around.

All of this seems to be culminating into a plea from me for people to try and interact with strangers or some wacky shit like that. That's not what I want to say at all. Simple awareness of the situation should be enough to keep it from reaching extremes, or at least you can be satisfied with the knowledge that you're more observant than the next guy.

It satisfies me.

Review - Show Your Bones

2006-03-28T12:22:00.000-08:00

About 6 or 8 months ago the producer of this album, Squeak E. Clean, released a statement about the project. He described it as a concept album about Karen O's cat (apparently named Coco) and would appropriately be called Coco Beware. That's pretty weird, but strangely enough it seemed completely normal. If you've ever seen Karen O you'll understand why. It was great to finally get some news on another album and I was very much looking forward to it.

In the end it turned out to be an elaborate hoax (oh that Squeak, what a prankster) perpetrated on MTV news--proof that they'll lap up whatever juicy tidbits of info that are fed to them. But I guess I'm guilty of the same, so let's move on.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs sophomore album was officially released--as Show Your Bones--today in North America. Truth be told, it was actually leaked onto various websites about a month ago and I've been listening to it ever since. The good news is that it's been able to hold my attention for a number of weeks, the bad news is that I'm still waiting for it to grow on me.

It gets off to a roaring start (roaring, ha!) with the best of the lot, Gold Lion. This track instantly became one of my favorite YYYs tunes upon hearing it. The deep bass kick opening from drummer Brian Chase, the sultry trademark vocals of Karen O and the unbelievably rockin' guitar chorus by Nick Zinner blend into what is so far the essential rock anthem of 2006.

While this album maintains the sexy fierce spirit of the debut LP, Fever To Tell, the listener quickly finds that the once sharp-edged sound of the band has been (intentionally) dulled to a safer, more accessible level. It's not that Karen doesn't have it anymore--I really think she'll take these songs to crazy heights during the live show--it's that she's more restrained. Whether it's self-restraint or producer-restraint I'm not sure.

At the same time this album seems to be a much more ambitious and dense project. Fever was all crashing guitars and strained vocals but maintained a very minimalist feel to it. Bones clearly has a lot more going on, so much so that they had to enlist a second guitarist for the tour.

As you can I see I have a lot of mixed feelings on this album. There are a number of great tracks; Phenomena being the hottest of the bunch, Cheated Hearts being my personal favorite, Warrior being the one that will draw comparisons to Maps, and Mysteries being the one that remains most true to their first album.

All in all it's a solid sophomore release. I'm glad to see that it's not a rehash of Fever, they picked a direction that they wanted to move in and stayed their course. I can only blame my massive expectations for the feelings of disappointment I have with this album.

Keep up the good work guys, let's not wait another 3 years for the next album!

7.9/10

Great Movies, Great Songs

2006-03-27T19:28:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty big on lists. And I'm pretty bored. So here's my current Top 10 Movies Of All Time interspersed with some songs featured in said movies.

P.S. If you're reading this, congratulations, you must be waaay more bored than I am.

1) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Beck - Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime

2) Pulp Fiction
3) Before Sunrise/Before Sunset
4) Clerks
5) Waking Life

6) Almost Famous
Elton John - Tiny Dancer

7) Fight Club
Pixies - Where Is My Mind?

8) The Constant Gardener
9) The Matrix

10) Vanilla Sky
Paul McCartney - Vanilla Sky

The Bastards!!

2006-03-27T07:03:00.000-08:00

The reviews are starting to roll out on some of my most anticipated spring albums--namely Show Your Bones (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Death By Sexy (Eagles of Death Metal)--and the verdict is not so good.

Karen O and the boys didn't fare to well on Pitchfork--a medicore score of 6.8--which writer Stephen M. Deusner (note how much that sounds like "Douche-ner") attributed to "an array of bells and whistles-- not to mention sirens, organs, programmed beats, acoustic guitars, rattling percussion, keyboards, and various studio effects". Added into the mix by super-producer Squeak E. Clean, all of which take away from the band's intensity. I can't say that I entirely disagree.

"...on Show Your Bones the Yeah Yeah Yeahs occupy only one corner of the territory they claimed on Fever, walking confidently in their own footsteps but without claiming any new ground."

"...the album sounds guarded, with very little danger and too few moments of real urgency."

Read the entire review here.

On the whole, that review isn't negative...it's just not very good. Josh Homme doesn't fare quite as well as the big name behind Death By Sexy--which got slapped with the dismal grade of 39% by Cokemachineglow.

The writer Conrad Amenta lambasts them for being a tired "one-trick pony". The trick? "Cock-rockery" (I'll give him credit for coining that sweet term). Lack of creativity...too obvious sexual innuendos...lack of depth...redundancy...yada, yada, yada.

I say that anyone who can't enjoy this album is way to caught up in trying to intellectualize the musical experience. It's not their aim to make deep and insightful operas that revolutionize rock 'n roll. Their mission is to make catchy, toe-tappin' boogie jams about sex and drugs.

This project is only a couple rungs of seriousness above Tenacious D, let's not try and compare them to Radiohead.

Read the entire review here.

This Week In Music

2006-03-26T15:28:00.000-08:00

There are a few notable musical performances coming up this week on Late Night TV.

So if you're up late enough to watch Late Night TV, tune into Late Night TV to watch these Late Night TV performances. I really enjoy Late Night TV, it's Late Night TV-eriffic.

Wednesday
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Letterman

Thursday
Flaming Lips - Letterman <---- Don't miss this.
The Strokes - Leno

I don't know how many people are Strokes fans anymore...it seemed kinda dumb to make a whole post just for two shows though. Three is much more dignified.

The Raconteurs on BBC Radio

2006-03-26T06:31:00.000-08:00

The Raconteurs made their international debut yesterday afternoon on BBC Radio 2. They played a semi-acoustic set of two songs, the debut single Steady, As She Goes and a Ron Davies cover called It Ain't Easy which is also on the album. Get 'em while they're hot.

Interview 1
Steady, As She Goes
Interview 2
It Ain't Easy

Be Entertained

2006-03-24T14:36:00.000-08:00

I really enjoy this sort of thing. It's the 30 second UK advertisement for the upcoming Flaming Lips release, At War With The Mystics. Enjoy.

Thank Fuck It's Friday

2006-03-24T12:10:00.000-08:00

Another grueling, life-sucking week in the big, boring book of life is finished. Celebrate your wacky ass off with some good-as-gold weekend tunes.

Art Brut - Good Weekend
"I've seen her naked twice!/I've seen her naked TWICE!!"

The New Pornographers - The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism
"I say my/my slow descent/into alcoholism it went/to my head/where I really need it."

The Dirtbombs - Livin' For The Weekend
"Monday through Thursday I'm dead on my feet/most of the time I'm too tired to eat."

Review - Junebug

2006-03-24T08:16:00.000-08:00

I'm terrified of junebugs. It's crazy. They actually impair my ability to function as a normal human being. Luckily I didn't draw the connection between junebugs and Junebug until a friend of mine pointed it out to me later. Weird.

This is a film about the tension created when different worldviews and systems of values collide as well as the new understanding that can come out of it. Madeline (Embeth Davidtz) is an urban intellectual--a dealer of 'outsider' art in Chicago--who suddenly finds herself thrust into the unfamiliar world of a Southern middle-class home where family, community and religion is prized above all else.

Madeline and her new husband George (Alessandro Nivola) are in North Carolina primarily to work out a contract with the talented but mentally impaired artist David Wark (Frank Taylor)--who just so happens to live only a few miles from George's family. Naturally Madeline suggests that they stay with the family not realizing the awkward situations and life changing happenstances that lie in this direction.

There's an aura of ambiguity that hangs over every scene of this film, as a viewer you're forced to interpret the awkward silences and body language of the characters. This a great strength of the film that helps it come off as a very real, almost voyeuristic experience. Like life, all of the high activity and high stress scenes seem to end quietly and calmly. Not with a car careening around a corner but with a character watching the car fade into the distance and walking casually away. It's actually a refreshing break from the high-octane, racing plotlines that Hollywood likes to throw at us these days.

Unquestionably, the highlight of Junebug is the stellar (Oscar nominated) performance of Amy Adams (Catch Me If You Can, The Office) as pregnant Ashley, the wide eyed and almost child-like wife of George's younger brother Johnny (Ben McKenzie). Deep and delightful, she takes over every scene she's a part of. I really look forward to seeing more of her in the future.

Junebug is really just a great and true film. It's not a movie that starts by establishing a problem and then works toward a conclusion. It jumps right into the center of an eccentric, troubled family and shows that problems are dealt with, not necessarily solved.

8.8/10

Making Waves

2006-03-23T10:27:00.000-08:00

It seems that every third post around here has something to do with The Raconteurs, so I might as well keep it up. They'll be hitting the airwaves in a big way over the next week or so. Mark these dates down on your calendar.

Saturday, March 25th
Live acoustic session on the Dermot O'Leary Show on BBC Radio 2 (5-7pm)
Listen here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2

Wednesday, March 29th
BBC Radio 1 Session with Zane Lowe (7-9pm)
Listen here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1

And for the rich folk...

Wednesday, March 29th
XFM Session with John Kennedy (11pm on XFM London, Manchester and Scotland)

I tried to figure out if you can listen on their website...I couldn't figure it out. Here's the link anyways: http://www.xfm.co.uk

I'm sure that recordings of all three will surface shortly after the shows, so I'll probably post those as well. Oh and those times are GMT I think, so...for people like me in the Eastern time zone, subtract 5 hours. For everyone else, you're on your own.

Cheers.

P.S. That picture is supposed to be airwaves.

This Is How You Remind Me That You Really Suck

2006-03-22T08:18:00.000-08:00

Confession time. When the first big Nickelback hit came out--How You Remind Me--I actually didn't mind it. That was before I got into music in any serious kind of way, so gimme a break. Fast forward a few years and Nickelback has become the best example of what's wrong with popular music today. So generic, so soulless, so...shitty. This isn't even really music, it's a bullshit computer generated commodity.

They no longer tailor the marketing to the music, they tailor the music to the marketing.

Anyways, here's the final straw that breaks the mainstream camel's back. Proof--as if you needed any--that Nickelback is about as musically talented as my doormat. It's two of their hit songs played simultaneously, note the fact that they actually sound better as one song than as seperate ones.

Click here.

Yes, Virginia

2006-03-21T11:06:00.000-08:00

The Dresden Dolls have been around for a while now. Their debut, self-titled studio album was released in '04 and the majority of critics accepted them into the indie scene with open arms. As a two piece band from Boston--Amanda Palmer on vox and piano, Brian Viglione on drums--their style is a very dramatic and theatrical display that blends punk and caberet into a catchy, sometimes jarring, satsfying musical experience.

The new album Yes, Virginia will be dropping April 18th in North America and if what I've heard is representative of the album it will be very worth checking out--as long as you can get past the freaky mime look.

My favorite track from the new is called Dirty Business. Get it here.

Hit The Road, Jack

2006-03-21T09:38:00.000-08:00

Mr. White and his new outfit, The Raconteurs, hit the stage last night for their first gig ever. The show was at the Carling Academy in Liverpool and apparently rocked the house. Jack started off by introducing the band, much to the delight of the energetic crowd, and then ripped through 13 songs--including all from the upcoming album and a couple covers.

The set list and an article on the gig can be found here, on the NME site. I also found an open Photobucket full of pics--mostly of Jack--from the night.

Red Hot Cover Art

2006-03-20T08:32:00.000-08:00

Who likes cover art? I do. This little gem will grace the front of the upcoming Red Hot Chili Peppers double-album, Stadium Arcadium, due out May 9th. I know it's kinda corny...shut up.

May 9th, what a great day that'll be. 28 new Chili Peppers tracks. Speaking of which, the track names have been revealed, though the order is as of yet unknown (I haven't confirmed this officially, still just forum rumour).

Dani California
Charlie
Snow (Hey Oh)
Stadium Arcadium
Ghost Dance
She's Only 18
Slow Cheetah
Torture Me
Animal Bar
Especially In Michigan
Warlocks
C'mon Girl
Storm In A Teacup
Hey
Desecration Smile
Tell Me Baby
Hard To Concentrate
Wet Sand
21st Century
She Looks To Me
Readymade
If*
Make You Feel Better
Early Eighties
So Much I
We Believe
Turn It Again
Death Of A Martian

Rumour also has it that the discs will be entitled 'Mars' and 'Jupiter' respectively.

Last but not least, be sure to check out this awesome video from the RHCP official site. It's a trailer for the new album, including a few seconds of--what is presumably the first single--'Dani California' (yes, the same Dani from By The Way and the 'teenage bride with a baby inside' from Californication).

CLICK HERE to watch the video.

Emerging Indie Watch Vol. 2

2006-03-20T00:41:00.000-08:00

These guys have been around for a number of years, they first got together in the 90s for some jam sessions. They've put out 2 previous albums but just recently signed to the more notable indie label, Barsuk Records (home of Death Cab For Cutie, Nada Surf and Rilo Kiley, among others).

April 25th marks the release of their debut album on this label entitled Drowaton. The band is Starlight Mints and I'm really enjoying the forthcoming album. The sound is self-described as 'bubblegum psych' and features "classic string arrangements, cheeky boyish vocals, and a feel good vibe to bring a glossy, fresh sound to indie rock."

This track isn't very representative of the album, definitely a bit slower and more mellow. It actually has a very Sufjan-esque quality to it, though the same level complexity isn't there, it's very, very, very good. Check it out.

Starlight Mints - The Killer

Cheers.

Ridiculous Picture of the Week

2006-03-19T23:19:00.000-08:00

Ok. What the fuck. This picture was taken last Thursday at the 2006 ShoWest Awards in Las Vegas. Can anyone explain to me why a monkey wearing a Coke shirt is there, and why it's posing for photographers with Natalie Portman?

Seriously, think about the events that must have had to transpire for this picture to be possible. It's ridiculous.

Songs + Lyrics = Fun

2006-03-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

Happy March 19th.

1. Man Man - Van Helsing Boombox
"When anything that's anything becomes nothing, that's everything, and nothing is the only thing you ever seem to have."

2. 10% Animal - Word Inventor
"We're ten percent animal, you do the math I'll handle the decimals, we're half panther half bird with tentacles."

3. Eagles Of Death Metal - I Like To Move It In The Night
"You know we move, yes we move, yes we like our dancin'."

4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Phenomena
"You're something like a phenomena, something like an astronomer, roll kid rock your body, oh."

5. Flaming Lips - Free Radicals
"You think you're radical, but you're not so radical, in fact you're fanatical. Fanactical."

6. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Pangea
"Pangea, we used to be together, why'd we have to drift apart?"

There you go, take em or leave em.

Steady, As She Loads

2006-03-19T00:37:00.000-08:00

As I write this, I'm still waiting for YouTube to load the god damn video, it's been about 5 minutes so far. It should all be worth it...I'm a little confused though, the MTV logo is in the corner of the video, but the guy speaking seems to be British. I guess that's not too surprising, Jack has way more love for everyone on that side of the Atlantic.

So here it is--drum roll please--the music video for The Raconteurs first single, Steady, As She Goes.

As I publish this post, I have yet to see the video. So enjoy.

Really, I just wanted to see if I could embed videos in my blog. Success! If that's not working for you, try this link to a different streaming feed.

I, Manface

2006-03-17T09:10:00.000-08:00

Strange moods demand strange music. And this band, Man Man is really something. But anything that's anything becomes nothing, that's everything, and nothing is the only thing you ever seem to have. That's a lyric from the track, Van Helsing Boombox, I don't know what it means either. Sounds good though. I'm sure that once I figure out all the lyircs and take it in context it'll make sense...but until then, I'm quite pleased anyways.

According to their site, the band consists of:

Honus Honus - Beduggering demonstration
Les Mizzle - Misunderstood pants
Pow Pow - Thunderous clap
Sergei Sogay - Correlated corrections
Alejandro Bjorg - Evolutionary theorist

Sounds weeeird. Check 'em out though, I highly recommend the tracks Van Helsing Boombox, I'd Rather Go Blind and Spider Cider. All of which can be found by clicking here and scrolling down a bit.

Congrats Jables!!

2006-03-16T23:00:00.000-08:00

Funny, funny, funnyman Jack Black is married. He recently wed his 34-year-old girlfriend Tanya Hayden according to this report from ET Online.

Hayden, a musician herself, is the daughter of jazz bassist Charlie Hayden. Jack, who's starred in such films as School of Rock and King Kong, can be seen later this spring in the Jared Hess (Napolean Dynamite) directed film Nacho Libre. Of course the highlight of Jack's career (and the crown jewel of my music collection) is his Tenacious D project with long-time friend Kyle Gass. If you've never heard it, find it. Now.

Or at least before October 26th, the official release date for Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny. This movie will be so rockin', it's going to split the world in half. It's also expected that the soundtrack will be the D's sophomore album release. I can't wait.

So, congrats Jables! Remember to fuck her gently.

90% Odd

2006-03-15T23:52:00.000-08:00

When Patrick Carney isn't drumming in The Black Keys or falling off his roof, what does he do? Well, some of the time he's in a band called 10% Animal.

Their music is pretty difficult to describe...there's some drums, some guitar and some strange noises all thrown together into an oddly organized but generally pleasing and moderately rockin' arrangement.

I'd be lying if I said it was incredible, but it's worth checking out. Give 'em a listen on their myspace.

Chulahoma

2006-03-15T16:12:00.000-08:00

The Mississippi city of Chulahoma doesn't really need the publicity, but it is a perfect title for The Black Keys' new EP release.

The 6 track--all of which are songs originally written and recorded by the late Junior Kimborough--28 minute disc is an homage to the great Mississippian blues artist.

Kimborough, who passed away in 1998, operated a juke joint called "Junior's Place" in Chulahoma that attracted musicians and rock stars from all over the world. It was maintained by family and friends after his death but burned to the ground in April of 2000.

I can't wait to hear the new EP, I wonder how long it'll take HMV to get this one for me...damn I need to find a good indie record store around here.

Read about--and preorder--Chulahoma, here.

Non-Lyrical Wizardry

2006-03-15T02:33:00.000-08:00

No, this doesn't have anything to do with Harry Potter.

The band is called Wizardzz and the man is Brian Gibson. You may or may not know him from his slightly more famous noise project, Lightning Bolt. With this band he's gained a reputation for producing dense and fiercly energetic thrashing bass & drum noise. That's a good thing, trust me. Be sure to strap yourself in tightly if you intend to take the full 57 minute ride around Hypermagic Mountain.

But anyways, back to Wizardzz. This will officially be referred to as Brian Gibson's side project. According to the band site on Load Records the sound can be described as,

"nothing like LB, this is more a creamsicle journey through car commercial jangltastic sound forgery. Rocking ... yes".

Count me in.

Check out the this track off of the forthcoming Wizardzz album, The Hidden City Of Tarmound, it's drum-tastic:
Wizardzz - Whispers From Wallface

And for the Lightning Bolt virgins in the crowd, here's a tasty sample:
Lightning Bolt - 2 Morro Morro Land

Goin' Clubbin'

2006-03-14T03:45:00.000-08:00

So, it's March. March 14th if my calendar isn't decieving me. That means a couple things.

1) Golf season is almost here.
2) ...umm, I guess it only means one thing. March blows.

I can't wait for the courses to open. Eh? Eh?

I dunno, sorry for the non-post. I haven't slept in forever...had to watch a movie and write a six page essay on said movie for my Sociology class, good times. [thumbs down]

That's me in the pic by the way, showing my skillz.

Nimble Like a Tree Frog

2006-03-13T01:54:00.000-08:00

I've never been much of a rap fan. Every once in a while a track will catch my attention and I'll give it a few listens, but thats about it. Enter DJ Format and MC Abdominal.

'Abs', a white-boy hailing from the great city of Toronto, is one of the first hip hop lyricists to really impress me and draw me deeper into the genre. I first heard his vocal stylings on a CBC Radio3 podcast a couple weeks back. I liked it immediately, but dismissed it quickly as a novelty.

A few days later I was still thinking about that damn song, Ugly Brothers, so I hit up The Hype Machine to see what else I could find. Not much...I guess the blogosphere hasn't really latched onto the Canadian indie hip-hop scene yet.

So, I had to resort to good ol' Google. There I found some good interviews and some other cool info. I guess the few tracks I've managed to grab will have to do until I can get my hands on an album or two.

Check out these tracks in the meantime:
1. DJ Format (ft. MC Abdominal) - Vicious Battle Raps
2. DJ Format (ft. MC Abdominal & D-Sisive) - 3 Feet Deep

And here's a sweet video for the "The Hit Song".

Collection #3

2006-03-11T05:10:00.000-08:00

Music, music, music. I haven't slept and I like music.

1. Tapes n' Tapes - Insistor
2. A.C. Newman - Drink To Me Babe Then
3. Sufjan Stevens - Woman At The Well
4. The Greenhornes - Pattern Skies
5. The Stills - In The Beginning <--- new album, Without Feathers
6. The 1900s - Patron Saint Of The Mediocre

Solid tracks, solid bands. Solid.

Careful Pat...

2006-03-09T22:34:00.000-08:00

The Black Keys, one of the greatest blues rock acts you'll ever see, seems to have had a bit of a falling out...err, falling off. According the forum on the official site, drummer Patrick Kerney took a tumble on Tuesday while tarring his Ohio roof.

<<< Note the cool picture.

He was pretty banged up in the incident, but it's nothing serious. As it stands he's too sore to drum, so the recording of their spring-release EP and fall-release LP will have to wait at least a week.

Careful Pat.

Emerging Indie Watch

2006-03-09T16:29:00.000-08:00

Australia has always been a pretty mysterious place to me--part crazy desert folk, part sexy actresses, part rock 'n roll. This band, Howling Bells, comes from the latter category. Their elegantly trashy (does that make sense?) echoing guitar riffs and the lead singer Juanita Stein's effortlessly sexy vocals flow nicely over some delicious drum tracks.

Check out the track "Low Happening" to see what I mean. Keep your eye and ear on this quartet, I hope they're going places.

P.S. Thanks to Jordan for the inspiration for the phrase 'deliscious drum tracks'.

Torture by Coupon Booklet

2006-03-08T22:50:00.000-08:00

Nothing in life brings me more joy and satisfaction than great bread. Especially when that bread is cut open and topped with glorious meats, chipper cheeses, fresh veggies and savoury sauces.

This, as we all know, is the submarine sandwich.

When I was growing up, Mr. Sub was my only source of sub experience. Though that sounds like a terrible deprivation of quality food, I assure you that I was quite happy in my ignorance of the higher sub culture that existed just outside my grasp.

Then--at the beginning of 8th grade--I moved to Midland, Ontario and everything changed. At first I remained loyal to the sub that had served me well for so many years. 'Subway?', I said, "who eats at Subway?". It seemed like such a Johnny-come-lately, scenester sub shop. But slowly and surely, I became more accepting of the green and yellow sub joint down the street. "What's the difference?", I thought, and I had to admit, the bread in those Subway commercials sure looked tasty.

It was around this time that I first experienced a Subway submarine sandwich. I was instantly hooked and immediately regreted all the time and loyalty I had devoted to Mr. Sub, the two products aren't even remotely comparable. The bread...so fresh, tasty.

The next few years were devoted to the development more upscale tastes and sub expertise. With so much variety, it's important to know what combination of ingredigents will satisfy the specific details of your appetite at any given moment. Cold Cut Trio? Screw that. Give me the Oven Roasted Chicken Breast, the Chipotle Cheese Steak! the Southwest Turkey and Bacon!!

A Jays game marked the beginning of another revolution. Quiznos.

It was late, we were in Toronto, we were hungry. "Hey, Quiznos! I heard that place is supposed to be good". So in we went--I came out a changed man. This is one of the fastest growing franchises in North America for a reason, their subs are fucking incredible. Topped and toasted to perfection--this is the height of sub culture, anything more would probably be made illegal.

This brings me to my current situation. A Quiznos coupon booklet has been sitting innocently on my desk for a number of days now. Each time I look at it, my mouth begins to water and a little piece of me dies with the realization that the nearest restaurant is a 40 minute trek from my house.

The outlook is grim. Will I make it to Quiznos before the coupon expiry date of March 19th? Stay tuned to find out.

The Raconteurs Arrive in North America

2006-03-07T23:48:00.000-08:00

As of today, The Raconteurs super limited 2-track 7" vinyl EP is available on this side of the Atlantic. It features the band's first single, Steady, As She Goes and another song from the upcoming album, Store Bought Bones.

Both are great tracks. Steady is the simpler, more catchy and more radio-friendly of the two. It's pretty much what what you'd expect if Jack and Brendan were combined into one person. Bones features Brendan on lead vox and seems to be a bit more experimental. There's some interesting organ work throughtout and very cool solos toward the end.

Good luck trying to get your filthy hands on one of the vinyls, only 1000 copies were produced and distributed for all of North America (you do the math). You can listen to both songs on their website. Or grab the songs for your iPod here:

Track 1 - Steady, As She Goes
Track 2 - Store Bought Bones

The album--Broken Boy Soldiers--drops May 16th.

The band has also announced their first live shows, 4 of them will happen in the UK between March 20th and 23rd.

More Songs I Like

2006-03-05T22:47:00.000-08:00

Here y'all go, volume two of tracks to check out.

1. Metric - Monster Hospital
2. Blood On The Wall - Mary Susan
3. Jens Lekman - Pocketful of Money
4. Gogol Bordello - Illumination
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cheated Hearts
6. Flaming Lips - The Wizard Turns On...

That's all for now. Cheers.

Fuck Crash.

2006-03-05T21:06:00.000-08:00

So, the 78th Academy Awards have come and gone in great style and glamour. As I type this up in my dark bedroom by myself at half past midnight, the rich and famous are partying it up at various spots around Hollywood. That's alright though, I'll be there next year after my script wins an Oscar.

All in all it was a pretty good show if you're the type of person who cares about such things. Rookie host Jon Stewart won over the crowd early with a solid Cheney joke ("...Bjork can't be with us tonight, while trying on her dress Dick Cheney shot her...") and proceeded to coast through the night without incident.

Having seen all the key films this year, I consider myself the most qualified unqualified person to tell you who should and shouldn't have won.

I'm in full agreement with the acting awards.

Best Supporting Actress - Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener)
Best Supporting Actor - George Clooney (Syriana)

Best Actress - Reese Witherspoon (Walk The Line)
Best Actor - Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Capote)

Though I may have given Clooney's statue to Paul Giametti, all four winners there are completely deserving. Hoffman especially who became his character in the biopic about author Truman Capote.

The other big awards are a bit more controversial for me. As expected, Ang Lee won Best Director for his efforts in Brokeback Mountain. I have no problem with that. The award for Best Adapted Screenplay also went to Brokeback Mountain, writers Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana were honored. No problems there either.

The bullshit begins at the presentation of Best Original Screenplay as Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco won for their work on the ensemble drama, Crash. As I continued to watch in utter disbelief, Jack Nicholson--though it probably wasn't up to him--also gives Crash the Best Motion Picture Oscar! What the fuck?

Critics loved Crash, audiences loved Crash, the Academy (obviously) loved Crash. I hated Crash. It was such a fake and manipulative piece of trash. The characters in this movie in no way reflected how people actually behave in the real world. Their actions and reactions were unnaturally manipulated by the--admittedly talented--screenwriters in such a way to bring out the simplistic themes they wished to explore. It was a movie designed to satisfy the viewer without ever actually making them think for themself. It's unfortunate that this movie was otherwise so well made and acted.

Anyways, that's all I have to say about that. The other great highlight was seeing the Three 6 Mafia win the Best Original Song award for "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" from the movie Hustle & Flow. In the words of Jon Stewart, "Martin Scorsese zero, Three 6 Mafia one".

Cheers.

To see if you won, check the full list here. If not, better luck next year, I'm rootin' for ya.

Mark My Words...

2006-03-02T15:40:00.000-08:00

Tapes 'n Tapes will be huge.

By the end of '06, anyone who's even remotely into music will know who this band is. They'll be so big that they'll be uncool. Actually that's already the case in the poshest indie circles, once Pitchfork picks up a band they lose all interest (plus they were played on the OC twice last week, and have plans to tour with Staind sometime later this year).

Either way, this is good music. Check it out here.

Flaming Lips Live!!!!

2006-03-02T09:22:00.000-08:00

Tuesday April 4th! 9 PM! The Phoenix in Toronto!

Do NOT miss this show. You WILL regret it. Seeing the Lips live is like...undescribable. Pure brilliance. Wayne Coyne is a genius. Animal costumes, topless chicks, confetti guns, giant balloons full of smaller balloons, what more could you ask for? It's like injecting fun directly into your bloodstream while eating and drinking fun.

Wolfmother opens.

Jack White's State of the Union

2006-03-01T12:08:00.000-08:00

Jack has posted two lengthy messages on the White Stripes official site this Monday and Tuesday. Content includes a defense of his controversial to decision to write for Coke, a comdemnation of critics and bloggers and some updates on the general goings on of the band.

Jack on the Coke deal.
"I like to write songs. I like the job of writing them too. I like to be given a task to complete. I like giving myself the task as well."

Jack on bloggers. (Except for me)
"The internet blogger. All of twelve, with not much knowledge of the power of the written word. It's tricky, words can kill. The power that words have, printed words, it's dangerous. They don't teach you that in school. And journalists don't even have to go to school anymore."

Jack on Get Behind Me Satan.
"What a funny album, coming from divided critics to supposed disappointing sales, to going platinum in several countries, to making most critics top ten lists, to winning a Grammy. That's funny right? When that happens pitchfork has to call spin to confer on whether to ignore or make fun of it."

Jack on "indie" music.
"It doesn't make your art pure just because you have knighted yourself 'anti-pop'. For example, most indie record lables rip off bands WAY more than major labels, you know why? Because they can get away with it....That's actually something I know a lot about, so you can trust me."

Check them both out here.